woops!

its been a busy week but nothing really to write about .. summer is closing up & I am having mixed emotions!! I am not ready to be done w/all of our outside activities, I don't feel we got enough in, went to enough parks, or had enough picnics :( we may just have to schedule more than one activity each week for the next 2. :)  today is our last official field trip friday event... the vet clinic!! yay!! then we are going to a little city park that's reallly nice & almost new -my only complaint is no potties :( boo! 8 kids & no potties..not cool numbers!

personally, I have a ton to report!!! 

I am in full on ScrapPink organization mode!! whohoooooooooo  registrations are out & coming back in YIKES!  I need to get on some prize donations now!!  The Tshirt guy is working on a print for us-love having original shirts for our events!!

I have created a team & registered for my Second 5k in October! YIKES!! Come join my team & if you can't, please donate to the cause :) (My team will have both walkers & runners on it) I walked it last year & it is a very cool experience. I was humbled by being passed by running cancer survivors when I was walking w/no excuse other than being lazy & unfit to run. This year I am running!

I have located, printed & shared today the registration for my First 5k for September! AHHHHHHHHH now to send it in so I can't chicken out! :)  I am hoping to ease my mind a bit by going over & running the course b4 the race.. is that cheating or being prepared? maybe I should find out first! eeek.

I am back in QRS prep! I think all I need to do is find some quiet time HA & go thru my paperwork. I better get on it.. it takes a while to get our stipend back & that's what I plan to use for Christmas shopping money.

I did w6d1 of the c25k program Wednesday night & will do d2 over the weekend.  I think it might be contagious as Tim did w1d1 then w2d1 unintentionally.. somehow he didn't know how to run my mp3 player & did both of them back to back LOL the goof!  I was involved in my dvr'd shows so I didn't notice he was running longer than he should have. 

Yup.. personally, I have been & plan to be B.U.S.Y.  I guess maybe, I have taken this summer for childcare kind of slow to make up for the busy mind & evenings?   Right now its time for breakfast & picnic prep!! Have a great day & weekend everyone!!!

YAY!!

I can post today!! Thanks blogger!! it wasn't letting me get this far yesterday :S so much in my head today going to attempt to organize it w/a list:

• Seriously pumped about our childcare Friday events this summer!!! something every Friday June 18-August 6!!!! ROCK ON!!! movie, fire station, farmer's market, animal shelter, vet clinic, train depot, conservation board, nurse consultant, even another provider's home for 4th of July craft!! GET OUT!!
• Today is the first official day of Summer Vacation! Whohoooooooo it started w/a pretty big thunderstorm & an inch of rain! LOL welcome to Iowa twenty-ten.
• I have childcare 'baby training' & dinner tonight, food training in Creston on the 22nd, need to go thru my QRS paperwork & see what needs done to turn in by 7/1
• helpers start tomorrow
• My body teased me w/a weigh in on Sunday that made me squeal. of course I gained it back in the past couple of days but hope to work it back off this week!
• I did 42 wii fit minutes + 2 new 10 minute target workouts on Sunday.. LOVE them!!!
• Have to miss the Farmer's Market tonight :(

now time for True Confessions:

1. living on water & string cheese last week helped the scale look good
2. but it threw my body into starvation mode & it stored what i ate on Sunday & I gained 3# back
3. at least that is my interpretation of the scale roller coaster I am on
4. I am still under my #5 button  :)
5. seeing that new number on the scale lit a fire I haven't had for a long time!
6. it was 1# shy of a 10# button!!
7. I was even too tired to eat all of my supper last night
8. then totally sabotaged everything by napping on the couch after supper for 2 hrs! 
9. boo!
10. today its raining cats & dogs already
11. so there will be no outside time *sigh*
12. yoga for kids & maybe a 10 minute session or 2
13. depending on how cooperative the kids are...
14. it is their first day of summer vacay after all!!

what are your confessions?? be honest! :)

Happy Hump Day!

(even tho it doesn't feel like it should be already YAY!!!) 

WOW last night was a crazy weather night for southern Iowa! storms, wind, rain, tornados oh my! luckily our area just had the first 3 :)  I slept like a rock all night long YAY! still tired today but fighting it w/some caffeine.  @ this point..whatever works!

hmmm still getting used to the new blogspot set up & tried to upload photos yday but only one took of the 6 or 8 I thought I had going. hmmmm will try again.  welllllllll looks like I am slowly getting it figured out!! YAY!

today is going to be a busy day involving my QRS for twenty-ten :) Kelly, nurse consultant & Dawn, QRS consultant are both stopping by. 

OH & its Weigh in Wednesday @ the 'hood & I remembered to hop on the scale first thing & I dropped that weekend pound PLUS another!! whohoooooooooo NOW to get this mouth healed up so I can get back on track w/eating right & getting my water (too many potato chips tore up the roof of my mouth this weekend making anything & everything painful)

I skipped the dreadmill last night.  My excuse is that I was exhausted & barely held my eyes open till 9 to try to catch up on the 400 blogs I got behind on over the weekend. hoping to get back on it tonight!!  I did however get the kids out for our mile walk in the morning as well as made guacamole for supper so I got both challenges for the fb group! (exercise + fresh f/v daily)

SOOOOOOOO how are you doing on those summer time goals? 

Good Morning!

Oh how wonderful a caffinated morning can be. :) ab-so-stinking-lutely lovely :) we put a cushion @ the bottom of the stairs & moved the gate, I currently have 5 littles playing alligator on the stairs on the their bellies LOL only one has had to leave the party for pushing :) oops make that 2.. the party is over. :( oh well.. it was fun while it lasted.

can we say Girl's Night Out!? whohoooooooo very last minute but some of us girls are hitting the Joey & Rory concert @ the casino tomorrow night for FREE YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!! hopefully its alot of fun!! :) I am a bit excited.

other than that, this weekend looks to be pretty relaxing w/a dab of shopping, some pumpkin patching, some eating out, & movie night w/my hubby. mmmmm sounds good for the temps they are predicting for us.. they even used the evil 'S' word for Sunday! ewwwwwwwwwwww not YET!!!! I should be able to get the house transformed into Fall :)

the toys are successfully cycled out! now thinking of trying something different for their nap laundry daily storage. the nurses for the QRS don't like my giant Ziplocs (suffocation hazard & all) so thinking stacking baskets just might be the way to go.

I wonder how much more random I can make this post? :) How about if I close in saying that I did manage to finish scrapping the photos from the '04 Branson trip last night during a House marathon & then Grey's & Private Practice! YAY!!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND EVERYONE!!!

HUMP DAY!

wow we've had a rough start today! yuck! I didn't sleep well -got my 96oz in so I was up 3x in the night, PLUS the time Gus needed out @2. guess maybe I should have kept my early bedtime of 8pm from the 2 previous nights. oh well. I think I'll crank some tunes & dance it out soon.

Right now, I am:

• frustrated b/c the collage I have posted as my header is so large I want is shrunk & would love to have more summer photos to fill the space but for some funked up reason my headers always go to the left NEVER ever center! grrrr suggestions??
• Happy that I did take my vites last night! got my 3 diary in, 3 f/v, considering the 2 hrs @ the park my walk for the day, & 96oz as previously reported. (21 day challenge)
• EX-CIT-ED for this Saturday's excursion to the Iowa State Fair! Tim &I are going early as always & meeting up w/the boating crew thru-out the day! FUN! the ISF may never be the same hehe.
• happy the Creative Memories order will be here this morning!
• tickled that Scrap Pink is coming along so well!
• both happy & sad that school starts in less than 2 weeks. ready for a new routine, but will miss my bigs.
• bummed I didn't get ANY organizing done this summer!
• anxious to hear back from the nurse consultant on our visit 2 weeks ago.
• looking fwd to spending the weekend in my scrap room next weekend while Tim's in the garage.
• enjoying listening to the kids playing cooperatively
• looking fwd to hearing all about my aunt & cousin's trip to Australia when they get back on Monday!
• looking fwd to a full morning in the back yard!
• making a list of phone calls that need made today.
• shocked @ how long I can make a list LOL

Have a Happy Hump Day!!

GOOD MORNING!!

WAY MORE RELAXED TODAY!!! the visit is over! they were in & out in 2 hrs... & our county nurse-Kelly is going on Vaca today so I won't get my action plan for a couple of weeks but that is ok w/me. :) b/c an action plan=action & I am so ready for NO action for a bit. She did call to let me know that my highchairs had been recalled so I called & ordered repair kits for them. simple fix!! ALOT of it is simple fixes!! love that! heading the list are hanging sheetrock over the covered insulation on the wall that's been exposed since last july when the basement flooded-yea that should havebeen done ALONG time ago but we were worried it would flood again & need redone again..well 12 months of dryness is probably a good clue it is good to hang ;) another easy fix is to get rid of the baby swing that is missing the safety straps-we don't even use it LOL ok ... enough babble. (I have to remember all of these visits are volunteer as in *I* volunteered for them, to be on the Iowa QRScale. sometimes its easier to whine & complain than to remember that)

I am keeping my Creative Memories party open until Friday even tho I kept saying Wednesday. I am way to close to my goal to close it already! (your order might be just tohe one I need ;) but no pressure LOL) on other scrapping fronts...I am in full swing 'planning SCRAP PINK' mode! looking for venders to set up tables. STACEY- would you want to put candles/books out for H&GP?? LMK. I am also looking @ shirts on the pink ribbon site to order since I can't find the scrap pink shirt site specifically. I don't think anyone will mind.. a 'pink' shirt is a 'pink' shirt.

We are attending an annual tubing trip this weekend. I just hope the water is holding its daytime temp w/these cool evenings it could be way too chilly to be fun!! its JULY in IOWA! we are not to worry about such things as cool water & extra blankets @ bedtime! sheesh

Today we are planning a 2nd field trip for the week! they earned it yesterday w/the nurses here they were GREAT FOR RACHEL!! thank goodness b/c I want out of here too :)Last night Tim decided to mow the old property -which hadn't been done in so long it could have been raked & baled!! lol so I went w/& played in the garden. I pulled weeds I had let grow under the combo panels (they weren't hurting anything as teh cukes/beans that were supposed to be there-weren't so I just didn't bother b4) as well as picked 3 cukes, & took inventory of all of his developing peppers! WOW TONS!! we might have tomoatoes & peppers to trade for grean beans by next weekend. this photo was taken last visit right after I weeded & he tilled. its 1/2 the size of what we planted but w/our wet spring we lost all of the corn, green beans & watermelon.

its THE day

I have a short detailed list of what needs done this morning b4 10 & here I sit. I am considering it therapy :) I did get the majority of the stuff done over the past week so I am not too worried.. the rest is simply cosmetic.

AWESOME night @ the local Farmer's Market last night!! I got a cloth bag FULL for $20!! 4 varieties of peppers, onions, eggplant, carrots, green beans, potatoes, & something else but I forgot. Love the fresh produce & the chit chat :) Thanks Stacey!!

ok... I am off & running... c ya

Whata weekend!

Friday night-ate @Redman's, grocery shopped, home to unload/sort/put away, clean out van for Saturday. clean kitchen then Soak in tub reading.

Saturday- up & vac all up carpet. load & ready to pull out when Mom, B&girls got here, got gas & away we went. got to FM, shopped & decided on IHOP for brunch on the way home, Creative memories party w/cocktails on deck. YAY!! w/everyone gone Tim came home to put cement around all posts he'd set that morning. showered, Nick, Hupp & Laurne @ the Mexican restarant for supper. then Eagle's for pool for the guys & darts for us girls for a while, then to Joker's till close. We crashed in living room.

Sunday- slept in but woke to a CRASH in the kitchen - the ceiling fan/light installed in Februrary fell to the floor. the whole assembly box broke apart! so we cleaned that up & I made apple turnovers from a box then bummed around for a couple of hours then got him moving on the fence-. finished @ supper time. ate smoked kilbasa on the grill & corn on the cob, relaxed a bit then went to the garden for him to till & me to weed & found 3 little green tomatos on the ground & 3 red romas ready to pick. have a cucumber that's close & 4 more starting, picked a pepper that hasn't changed in a month & found alot of starts! its getting exciting!! talked to neighbors we share the new fence w/& she (Brooke) would like a garden spot .. offered her a chunk @ the old place & she about did flips :) home to relax!!! read in tub ( I should have soaked my shoulders more.. they are SORE today. (I always put muscle soak bath salts in the tub!)

this week I have a 4 hour visit on Wed w/the county & State nurse consultants to go thru all of my toys & equipment & environment for the QRS & write up all of my 'things to change' to be a perfectly safe environment. so I have some things to get moved/cleaned today & tomorrow. :) Plus we are hoping to do 2 field trips this week -Tues & Thurs. & hopefully hang the sheetrock in the basement & mow tonight or tomorrow night. its going to be busy!!!

woops...

sorry for the lack of posting! this morning flew past.. then we went outside when the first visitor arrived to finalize my QRS level 3 application for 2008 paperwork, Suzanna took 3 to the library, 2 went to swimming lessons, when they all started to return & the visitor left, it was time to come in to fix, serve & clean up lunch AND lay down for quiet time. Then visitor #2 came & did step #2 in my QRS level 4 application for 2009 paperwork!! whew. (if you reallllllllllly want to know all that goes into it, you can click on 'home chart' & get a .PDF file that tells a smidgen of it)

WOW!

I also came up w/a make shift schedule of the 'b4 the company comes' list. I feel way better now. gosh I wish I had some interesting photos to share but I don't. .. sorry! maybe tomorrow as tonight we are going to Lyndsey's last ball game (a niece) & working on grouting the rest of the shower walls!!!!!! way excited about that! :)

ok.. off to find something to serve for snack!
Hope everyone's day was as much better as mine! :)

productivity Wed Report

WOW!!!!! I feel like we made major headway yday! while Tim was working late & I ran out & got plastic for the bathroom next step, weeded one front flower bed, deadheaded the other, read up on the seed blankets I have (need to till/loosen soil & have some for top too RATS! not something I can do on my own or this week *sigh*), fixed a beefy rice packet from the cupboard & added frozen mixed veggies to it, read in my book while the grill was getting ready (I can NOW do the first 2 steps in the charcoal grilling :) 1. put the charcoal in the can & soak w/fluid 2. light it hahahah.. seriously I thought there was something special about lighting it until last night! sheesh! THEN after we ate supper we hit the bathroom.. Tim sanded what needed it, added another layer of mud to a couple of spots, cleaned up his tools & swept the floor while I was pulling the trim nails from around the doorways then cutting the plastic to fit the door & tub. Then I hung the piece on one door to the hallway (we have a 2nd door thru our bedroom) & he covered the tub. all this prep was so exciting!! it means we are close to spraying texture!!! then we get to paint!!!!!!!!! the plan is to finish prep tonight to spray tomorrow night, go to the lake Saturday & Sunday, come home & paint Sunday & Monday nights... SOOOOOO EXCITING!!!!!!!!


I hope to get the kids out in the yard this morning to get the mulch moved, some glad bulbs planted & some lettuce seed in the ground. other than that I have a QRS paperwork meeting @12 & nothing else planned.


Yesterday, we walked w/our lil troop up town, around the square, played in the courtyard & home in 2 hrs. it was an enjoyable walk! WE LOVE SUZANNA!!

sooooo how do you...

How do you expect to end a crazy busy week?? how about an equally crazy busy weekEND? that's exactly what we did!

first the highlights of the week that I didn't get posted. I seem to be on a winning streak as of late. odd for me. I won a totally awesome book I am really looking fwd to getting ITM from here & then yesterday logged on to find that I had won a shirt from here thru here :) pretty darn exciting for me!!!

the weekend......... lots of running from here & there & little overnight sleeping as a short version.
long version:
Friday night:out to grocery shop, home to clean & make snacks, shower & guests start arriving @8:30-played Wii, we all got our Wii ages LOL, had cocktails & snacked FUN!!!!! way fun :) last left @3. (Jeff had the youngest Wii age! the lil puke)(yummy deserts!!!)
Saturday: up w/ the alarm @6:30-on the road after getting gas & donut to soak up the dab of champagne that I felt lingering :) & on the road by 7. Stopped@ my brother, Philip's for farm fresh eggs then on to conference 8-4:30 AWESOME!!!! all out doorsy stuff... incoorporating Iowa's nature in our daily curriculum, going green & easy peasy field trips! back on the road home, stopped @ the store for 2 things for dip to take. Home to make dip, shower & change then back on the road to DM this time by 5:30. Returned ceiling fan Tim had pickedup on Friday. Then to Sarah's surprise party til 3AM. Sober me drove home in the pouring rain. home after 4 b/c of the rain UGH. (sherry, Sarah, tim)
But slept till 3PM Sunday when Tim got back w/McD's for lunch. Went to Mom's old house & got an old wooden cabinet for the basement. home to chill. made pork roast for supper. watched shows & went to bed right after.

today I am fully caffinated & have a small group so far :) I even have the laundry started!

on the QRS front I just need to type up & print my last item! WHOHOOOOOOO

Accountability: hoping to get the wii fit out tonight & get back on w/my 80oz of water daily!
5in5 --Friday: GOT EM ALL IN w/extra! yay!! Saturday-not so much, Sunday I got 3. back on track today! I did not make the overall goal as I have missed 3 days already. oh well it was interesting to learn & try & a good goal to keep up.

Appreciate: hmmm its been awhile!! I appreciate the time & effort the organizers go to when putting together AWESOME trainings like the one we had on Saturday.. looove it!! I appreciate our friends that come when invited or that RSVP that they can't. I appreciate that I could sleep till 3PM yesterday :)

ok.. I'd say that's enough rambling! off to face the day.. dreary as it is.

T.G.I.F!!!

wowza.. I had no idea how tired I was until I went to read last night & was asleep by 9 LOL
we are looking for another great weather day today here so there will be another walk in store!!
then hopefully finishing my QRS paperwork! I got all the copies I needed from the nurse yesterday.

I got to email 2 & deliver 3 more registrations for SPRING FLING yesterday!! wow when they all come in we will be over ful!! good thing some are just reserving one day. :) I am really excited to fill the room soI can feel more confident about stepping up my plans for SCRAP PINK!

this weekend is jampacked. tonight hosting wii-fest, tomorrow all day training in creston (backyard adventures-fun!), then buzzing off for surprise party, then Sunday will be recooperating!! looking fwd to it all! :)

I got the disk & card back from the photo shop yesterday & there are 15 usable images on both but 192 images on my sd card... very frustrating to see them on the camera but not get them to transfer.. i was way better off thinking they were gone & lost forever LOL

yesterday was alot busier than I realized until now when I list it all LOL

5in5- I didn't do so good yesterday I only got 2.5 servings in -tator tots(.5 serving) for breakfast, corn +romaine (1.5 serving) for lunch, banana for snack (1). CORRECTED to count right: breakfast .5, lunch 2.5, snack 2=5!!! I did it!! (just didn't know how to count them LOL)
so I am starting strong today: 32 oz of apple cider (thinking its atleast 1 & maybe 2 servings there!)

Ok its toast & sausage gravy & fresh pears for breakfast today!! yummm I know what I'm having :)

old man winter

please please please go AWAY! we are tired of being cold, bundling up to go outside, the nasty coughs & sneezes & itchy dry skin we have from you. (was that nice enough b/c I can get nasty if I need to)

last night's yoga was FABULOUS!! I would still be feeling refreshed from it probably if I hadn't hit snooze too many times & having to run around a bit to be ready when the first family showed up. EEKKK I hate hurrying to be ready first thing out of bed!

ACCOUNTABILITY: yesterday's yoga was my work out, & I managed 60oz of water & 32oz of hot tea again :)

APPRECIATE: I appreciate the fact that we have enough vehicles to get to yoga w/the van in the shop-some people do not. I appreciate that I could open the fridge & pull out the fixin's for supper. I appreciate that the sun shined/shone yesterday & am hopeful it will today too :)

Work: I am pulling together copies of documents to renew my child care home registration. happy to report I have more than enough training hours :) AND that everything I needed was in 1 of 2 close locations!! Now this morning w/o any infants I am planning to make copies of training certificates for my QRS application! I think I even have enough points to make a 4 this time! WOWIE ZOWIE!

lets get kickin'